Posted on 11/21/2007 11:58:07 AM PST by Sopater
An internal police investigation is under way after a formal complaint was filed against a Utah state trooper who was videotaped Tasering a man who refused to sign a speeding ticket.
The officer's conduct has been called into question after a videotape of the incident was posted on YouTube.
The video, taken from a Utah Highway Patrol dashboard camera, shows Trooper John Gardner using a Taser on Jared Massey during a traffic stop on State Road 40 in Uintah County on Sept. 14.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
he was saying turn around when the guy was facing away (and walking away) from him..
What happens to our young soldiers who shoot at a terrorist with a bomb or an AK 47 without being shot at first?
Ok.
That might be an issue.
It’s not particularly to the stop or the officer’s actions in apprehending the guy.
He probably didn’t engage his parking brake, either.
Well if we could do away with speed limits we could eliminate a lot of these problems:’)
I would rather be Tasered than clubbed by a State Trooper, who are usually well over 6' 4" and 250 lbs.
I agree 100% that this is an important and valid question.
As I mentioned earlier, the taser is EASY.
It stops a cop from having to roll around on the pavement.
It stops a cop from having to escalate to lethal force.
It’s so easy that there certainly is potential for abuse.
Now, take the taser away at that moment and tell me how the cop was supposed to restrain this guy? The doofus driver already escalated it past talking or a simple cuffing.
Is the cop gonna jump on the guy and roll into traffic, which you seem very concerned about?
Is he gonna let the guy get back to his car and maybe retrieve something?
Is he gonna move right to the club or even the pistol?
It looks bad because people drop immediately, but there are certainly worse options.
You point that you have made in at least two posts about the cop’s atempt homicide of the citizen is really an important one.
You obviously don’t remember the time before tasers.
Choke holds, clubs and fisticuffs were targeted DAILY because some asshole wanted to fight the cops and then enede up on a slab. You grapple with a cop, he’s gonna FIGHT FOR HIS LIFE and you’ve just escalated way past you abilities.
Much more than 140 deaths annually, I assure you.
Remember, the fight that now ends with a taser often ended with some dirtbag reaching for an officer’s gun and getting shot.
It’s called “unintended consequences” and taking the taser out of the cops hands is gonna lead to some interesting ones.
The guy resisted arrest, pure and simple.
He chose to make physical force an issue, when he could have easily assumed the position. Once the decision was made, the cop used the most effective tool he had.
Asshole disobeys a cop during a legitemate traffic stop.
Not quite the “police state” you envision.
As I said to someone else on this thread, like them your very attitude on this thread causes cops problems.
And yes witness tampering. He went back to the woman and tried to intimidate her into remembering the situation the way he wishes it went down. He is simply a criminal with a badge and the fact that you defend him speaks very poorly of you.
Bingo.
One thing about state troopers - they grow them BIG and they don’t do it for changing tires.
And again, I call BULLSHIT.
The woman was ordered back to the car so the cop wouldn’t have to watch his back. If she didn’t, she’d have been a liability and then he’d have to deal with her in another way. Safer for her, safer for him. The cop then explains why it went down that way, in order to calm the woman down.
I will say this is another reason that I’ve always opposed single-cop patrols. A cop needs somebody to watch his back against an asshole driver or his bitchy wife.
the cop was clearly beligerant, which is not what he is supposed to do...
the officier did not provide details as to why the motorist had to sign the ticket or give details what speed he was supposedly going....
so we don't have the manpower to stop rapists or child molesters and our jails our crowded yet this kind of totalitarian action by a govt goon is justified?....don't think so...
I wish cops would go do dangerous duty, like in the inner cities where gangs and drugs abound, but then again, those people might actually shoot back...
no...its better to go out on a wide open roadway and harass ordinary folk for supposed "speeding"...
The officer clearly initiated an unlawful stop, since the driver was clearly clocked PRIOR to entering the 40mph zone, as he later argued to the officer. What do you do if you know you were NOT speeding? Isn’t signing the ticket a tacit acknowledgment of speeding which would prejudice your case?
Your “nonthreatening citizen” was out of line from the beginning and if you couldn’t see that in the video then you are part of the problem, not me.
It’s people with attitudes like yours that is pathetic as well as disgusting. You and your ilk are always the first in line to cast aspersions on the good men and women that serve and protect the law abiding people in this country, while giving sympathy to the garden variety scoff-laws and reprobates that we are forced to deal with on a daily basis.
The next time that you get mugged, car-jacked, or run into by some jerk running a stop sign, feel free to call a liberal to help you sort things out. Leave the cops alone to take care of the decent folk.
Oh, for heavens sake. Cops never read rights until the criminal is cuffed.
You could not hear what the cop said due to traffic so your anger is based on your imagination.
no...apparently its better to TAZER a guy for it and have him lying on the road next to traffic that is ZOOMING by , and take him to jail...it'll only costs taxpayers a few thou...
Ok, you just went over the line. Would you expect a cop to call your wife names like that? Would your wife just sit there and smile and say “oh officer it’s ok. Zap him once again for me?”.
The only Taser deaths I have read about were with obese victims, those with serious heart defects, and perps high on drugs, as with a nutcase who was insanely high on crack in Milford, CT last year.
The millions of people will watch this. Millions of people will now hold cops in even lower regard. Good job officer.
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